The Blues Alley Podcast
The history of black music is the history of American music. AEWorks Blues Alley Podcast takes you on a remarkable odyssey of struggle, intrigue, business, crime, & music, all spanning more than a century. But, Blues Alley isn’t your typical blues documentary. Our goal is to tell the stories of blues music, but also to reach into the lives of the people who created it. Explore the places they lived, and the times that inspired the first truly authentic form of American music. Our first series W.C. Handy, the Founding Father of American Music, weaves the tale of the man who first took a rustic music from the Mississippi delta, turned it into an international phenomenon, and made blues music sing for everyone, everywhere. You’ll be amazed.
Episodes
When most people think of American blues - they envision a solitary man, with a battered old guitar - waiting at the crossroad to claim his destiny of fame and fortune, but all that would come decades after the genre first became a hit.
What few people realize today - is that the first decade of blues music was dominated by women. Much of their music is irreverent, biting and vehemently feminist.
Their names are largely unknown tod...
When most people think of American blues - they envision a solitary man, with a battered old guitar - waiting at the crossroad to claim his destiny of fame and fortune, but all that would come decades after the genre first became a hit.
What few people realize today - is that the first decade of blues music was dominated by women. Much of their music is irreverent, biting and vehemently feminist.
Their names are largely unknown tod...
When most people think of American blues - they envision a solitary man, with a battered old guitar - waiting at the crossroad to claim his destiny of fame and fortune, but all that would come decades after the genre first became a hit.
What few people realize today - is that the first decade of blues music was dominated by women. Much of their music is irreverent, biting and vehemently feminist.
Their names are largely unknown tod...
When most people think of American blues - they envision a solitary man, with a battered old guitar - waiting at the crossroad to claim his destiny of fame and fortune, but all that would come decades after the genre first became a hit.
What few people realize today - is that the first decade of blues music was dominated by women. Much of their music is irreverent, biting and vehemently feminist.
Their names are largely unknown tod...
When most people think of American blues - they envision a solitary man, with a battered old guitar - waiting at the crossroad to claim his destiny of fame and fortune, but all that would come decades after the genre first became a hit.
What few people realize today - is that the first decade of blues music was dominated by women. Much of their music is irreverent, biting and vehemently feminist.
Their names are largely unknown tod...
When most people think of American blues - they envision a solitary man, with a battered old guitar - waiting at the crossroad to claim his destiny of fame and fortune, but all that would come decades after the genre first became a hit.
What few people realize today - is that the first decade of blues music was dominated by women. Much of their music is irreverent, biting and vehemently feminist.
Their names are largely unknown tod...
When most people think of American blues - they envision a solitary man, with a battered old guitar - waiting at the crossroad to claim his destiny of fame and fortune, but all that would come decades after the genre first became a hit.
What few people realize today - is that the first decade of blues music was dominated by women. Much of their music is irreverent, biting and vehemently feminist.
Their names are largely unknown tod...
When most people think of American blues - they envision a solitary man, with a battered old guitar - waiting at the crossroad to claim his destiny of fame and fortune, but all that would come decades after the genre first became a hit.
What few people realize today - is that the first decade of blues music was dominated by women. Much of their music is irreverent, biting and vehemently feminist.
Their names are largely unknown tod...
When most people think of American blues - they envision a solitary man, with a battered old guitar - waiting at the crossroad to claim his destiny of fame and fortune, but all that would come decades after the genre first became a hit.
What few people realize today - is that the first decade of blues music was dominated by women. Much of their music is irreverent, biting and vehemently feminist.
Their names are largely unknown tod...
When most people think of American blues - they envision a solitary man, with a battered old guitar - waiting at the crossroad to claim his destiny of fame and fortune, but all that would come decades after the genre first became a hit.
What few people realize today - is that the first decade of blues music was dominated by women. Much of their music is irreverent, biting and vehemently feminist.
Their names are largely unknown tod...
Before Rosa Parks, there was another Rosa Parks, a Memphian named Ida B Wells. Wells was a school teacher - turned journalist - turned activist. Predictably her anti-lynching articles, and speeches enraged southern whites. We’ll tell you the whole amazing story on this Special Rabbit Hole Edition of AEWorks Blues Alley Podcast.
We’d love for you to subscribe. You know what to do… & thank you! BONUS EXTRAS Learn how the stories of...
He fought in WWI, championed civil rights throughout the twentieth century, became a celebrated author, and adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King. Yet few people know his name. We’ll tell you the whole amazing story on the AEWorks Blues Alley Podcast.
We’d love for you to subscribe. You know what to do… & thank you! BONUS EXTRAS
Learn how the lives of Lt. Lee and Handy intersect Episode 6
Founded by Chester Pond, the Yazoo & Delta Railway began service in 1897, running from Ruleville, Mississippi - population 336, to an empty spot in the middle of the delta. So why would a tiny town need it’s own railroad? And why was it called the Dog? We’ll tell you the whole amazing story on the AEWorks Blues Alley Podcast.
We’d love for you to subscribe. You know what to do… & thank you! BONUS EXTRAS Learn how the stories of...
Broadway bound, Handy faced a whole new set of problems. We’ll tell you the rest of his amazing story on this episode of AEWorks Blues Alley Podcast.
We’d love for you to SUBSCRIBE. You know what to do… & Thank You!
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BONUS EXTRAS SAINT LOUIS BLUES
LISTEN TO - “Saint Louis Blues” The original piano piece Composed and Arranged by W.C. Handy Performed by Jim Holthouser https://open.spotify.com/track/6kYXxg36AF10npniBs...
Handy had a hit… but could he write another? And, why was he still playing gigs for six dollars a night? We’ll tell you the whole amazing story on the AEWorks Blues Alley Podcast.
We’d love for you to SUBSCRIBE. You know what to do… & Thank You! ----more----
BONUS EXTRAS SAINT LOUIS BLUES
LISTEN TO - “Saint Louis Blues” The original piano piece Composed and Arranged by W.C. Handy Performed by Jim Holthouser https://open.spotify...
Handy had written a hit in Memphis Blues, but could he keep it? There’s a fine line between business and theft in Jim Crow Memphis. We’ll tell you the whole amazing story on the AEWorks Blues Alley Podcast.
We’d love for you to SUBSCRIBE. You know what to do… & Thank You!
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BONUS EXTRAS
LISTEN TO - “The Memphis Blues” The original piano piece Composed and Arranged by W.C. Handy Performed by Jim Holthouser
Department stores are a waning institution in 21st century American culture. But, without them there might not be American music at all. We’ll tell you the whole amazing story on the AEWorks Blues Alley Podcast.
We’d love for you to SUBSCRIBE You know what to do… & Thank You!
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BONUS EXTRAS VIEW - Handy's Ad for the Memphis Commercial Appeal September 28th, 1912 https://www.aeworks.org/blues-alley-sources
Just like the legendary crossroad in the Mississippi delta, the corner of Main Street and Madison Avenue in Memphis, TN, is its own kind of crossroad. It’s also one of the most important places in the history of American music. We’ll tell you the whole amazing story on the AEWorks Blues Alley Podcast.
We’d love for you to SUBSCRIBE You know what to do… & Thank You! ----more----
BONUS EXTRAS
LISTEN TO - “The Memphis Blues” The or...
Did you know that the story of American music, as we know it today, began at a tiny train station in a now mostly forgotten town called Tutwiler, MS? We’ll tell you the whole amazing story on AEWorks Blues Alley Podcast.
We’d love for you to SUBSCRIBE. You know what to do… & Thank You!
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BONUS EXTRAS
LISTEN TO THE SONG that started it all.
Yellow Dog Blues Composed and Arranged by W.C. Handy Performed by Jim Holthouser ...
Blues music has been around for well over a hundred years. In the 21st century, we have the same relationship to W.C. Handy, that he had to Beethoven. It’s time to begin looking at the founders of blues as the American corollaries of Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart. The Blues Alley Podcast, is more than just the story of the founders. It’s also about the places and environment that they lived in, because art, literature, science, tec...
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